PLANNING - IDENT

We planned our ident to be clean and simple with a simple rotation motion.
Our Production studios name is "EE Productions". We hoped this would be memorable for our audience and enhance the sleek font effect we have used throughout our entire film.

This is our finished ident, we had some trouble with creating the motion in the application 'Motion' but got there win the end! We're very happy with the way it has turned out.

PLANNING - COSTUME/PROPS/ACTORS

Here are some screenshots from some of the footage we recently filmed to show the costumes and props developments and how they have altered slightly.

PLANNING - SHOOTING SCHEDULE

This is the first edit of our shooting schedule although it had to be changed because our actor (Meredith Mack) dropped out. However, we used the same dates to do all the same shots just with our other actor (Grace Teale). Although when we decided to add another scene for our narrative to make sense, we did have to do another day of shooting. We also reshot some of the night shots to see if we could get some clearer shots of our protagonist in better lighting.

PLANNING - Dialogue

On deciding a dialogue, a conversation over the phone between our protagonist and her mother, we have drafted a script:

Mum:

''Hey darling''

''Hope you had a good day, how are you?''

''When will you be back?''

''Okay see you soon! Have fun!''

OUR FIRST SHOOT - 18th JANUARY 2015

OUR FIRST SHOOT

Unfortunately, despite our media teacher's warnings (and threats) Ewan and I were unable to film more than a recce shoot today. We had failed to charge al of the equipment to maximum capacity in preparation for our shoot.

However, we managed to get a shot of our Protagonist (Sara played by Meredith Mack)  in the location we wanted to use for our opening scene and possibly with the same sort of lighting that we aim to capture in our end product.

Ewan and I chose this location (the Southbank) because we felt it encapsulated the urban effect we were aiming to achieve, yet the reflection from water (of the river Thames) gave slightly eery, mysterious look in winter weather.

In actual fact, Ewan and I captured a shot where the sunlight was reflecting off the water left on the pavement, framed with large trees on either side. We thought this was quite beautiful, against the urban backdrop of London.

DISCLAIMER: we haven't quite yet mastered the act of uploading footage to youtube under the correct title......

 

ACTORS ARE FLAKEY!!!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the actor playing our Protagonist has had to pull out of our project.

Although this is difficult and challenging for us as we had thought that this particular actor would be perfect in the role of our protagonist, we have met adversity with courage.

Despite our desire to cast our protagonist role as older than our age range, due to desperation and availability of our potential actors, we have had to cast the main role to my younger sister, Grace, aged 13.

This is not ideal as you can imagine, and anticipate that in the filming and editing process, we may have to alter our narrative slightly in order for it to make sense with our protagonist.

PLANNING - SOUNDS

Our final inspiration for our finished soundtrack was from this scene in the french film "Tell No One". Although the building guitar strumming with the atmospheric sound slightly contrasts the scenes that are being shown, it builds tension and suspense whilst still being thrilling. We used this to aid our composer Joe Reeves to compose a similar piece of music.

LIGHTING PRACTICE

Here is a task we were set in practicing using lighting before we began filming. W e experimented with making flat weather into interesting lighting through the composition of the shot. We also experimented with using filler lights and spotlights in an interior atmosphere. We learned a lot about where to position the lights and how long their battery packs last for, hopefully avoiding them running out during our night shoots!

PLANNING - LOCATION

For our locations, we are using an estate in New Cross Gate (south east London). This estate is undergoing maintenance and is covered in scaffolding, hopefully presenting a deserted estate within the film. There is this one light that stays on all the time, just above the stairways which we will use as the protagonist is being chased. Below shows some of the pictures of the estate. We will be filming here when dark.

As well as this estate, Ewan and I will be filming at the south bank in the very opening of the film. We did a recce where the light was reflecting off the wet floor with the shadows of the trees contrasting to give a really interesting shot. This is shown as below:

However, our protagonist has changed now and probably so will the composition of the shot. 

PLANNING - TARGET AUDIENCE

After doing our audience research, Ewan and I decided to change our target audience from a lower age group to 20-30. This is because we discovered that younger ages where less keen on the idea of a social realistic thriller compared to a slightly older audience.

This gives us a better idea of what the audience wants and so will allow us to create a film specifically for that audience.

RESEARCH - COSTUMES AND PROPS

We began to think about how our costume and props could influence our piece's aesthetic as a whole.

We wanted a change in costume for the protagonist to show the change and threat that has taken place in her life. Since our opening shots are of her running, we probably want her in sports leggings and a hoodie with running shoes. Later to turn into tracksuit bottoms and a zipped up hoodie over her head and a big duffel bag containing all her belongings.

It is vital that we characterise our antagonist as powerful and wealthy. We thought a long dark smart coat would enhance this.

RESEARCH - IDENT

Idents are an important part of the marketing towards a productions company and also can be used with a sound bridge to enhance and the atmosphere set up for the film that is about to happen.
Whilst researching ideas for our own ident concepts we came across a selection of 'Film 4' idents as shown above. Ewan and I liked the composition of these indents though we know it isn't possible for us to create our own ident in a similar way. We liked the concept of a dark graphic, cleanly cut ident that was simple. We liked the motion animation of the film 4 indents which worked to create a slick, professional and thrilling ident. We aim to achieve the same effect with our own ident; though it is graphic and simple we want to make it edgy. Here are some indents we liked and thought would influence our ident design well:

RESEARCH - SOUND

Ewan and I decided that there won't be a lot of dialogue within our opening, but we want a tense and fast soundtrack, consisting of piano and maybe some brass to get the instrumental type of sound. We looked at several film trailers and soundtrack but found that Maze Runner and London to Brighton had soundtrack similar to what we wanted, but ones that are still reproducible at our level.

We want the soundtrack to build the tension, and we will be looking to use aspects of atmospheric and folly sound in our film opening.








What we liked about these soundtracks were that they fitted the aesthetic of the films whilst still being exciting, thrilling and fast pace. Since our film is urban and thrilling, we want a modern bass soundtrack that's still exciting and fast pace, perhaps with a piano or guitar track as the base of the track.

RESEARCH - LOCATION

In the process of researching for potential locations, Ewan and I looked for urban, rough buildings to portray London realistically and symbolise the threatening world that our Protagonist lives in.

Ewan and I looked at buildings such as the Trelik Tower, Southbank and the (now demolished) Heygate Estate in Elephant & Castle.

Trelik Tower looked interesting but provided difficulty with travelling given us having to carry a lot of filming equipment there. We also were worried about whether the Trelik Tower would be able to provide the shots that we had imagined in our storyboards. For instance, we want shots of our Protagonist running up stairs inside the estate, shots of our protagonist's footsteps as she runs towards the building. Having never been there before, we didn't know whether this would be possible.
However, Trelik Tower's aesthetic perfectly matched the rundown urban theme that we aimed to capture.

Southbank looked more manageable in terms of travelling there. Having been there before, Ewan and I could imagine specific locations on the Southbank and particularly on the steps of the Southbank that would work perfectly in the shots of our Protagonist. We liked the urban street filled with many people, and started to consider involving shots of our Protagonist running towards the camera through many people. This would work well for our opening sequence as Thrillers usually contain elements of establishing the normality of the Protagonist's life before the worrying threat takes place. 

Though Heygate Estate is now demolished, Ewan visited there last year and took photos. We found these photos interesting and they provided inspiration for our piece as a whole. We developed some of the photos in photoshop and came up with looking at how we would brand and identify our own piece if we were releasing it to a wide range of cinemas.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH - OUR RESPONSE

Ewan and I decided to make a video of our response to our box pops and what we've learnt because we thought it was easier to share it in discussion instead.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH RESULTS - VOX POPS

Here are the responses to our Vox pops audience research. We had some questions in mind that we were interested in asking and interviewed people in a variety of ages (15-26).

SHOT LIST FIRST PLAN

Ewan and I came up with a plan for the shots we want to use before starting the story board. These are just simple shots of the rough ideas we wanted to use, and this gave us a good idea to the overall plot, layout and shots needed for the story board and for when we shoot the shots. 

Our film opening consists of interspersed shots of past and present.

A rough plan, more shots of each point will be seen in the story board.

Italics = past

Normal = present

Fade from black

Cut to footsteps running 

Cut to protagonist present footsteps running (chase)  

Close up running away

Close up protagonist looking back (the chaser) 

Close up keys unlocking the door

Running to push open the door

Footsteps climbing stairs

Footsteps running up cement staircase (estate stairs)

Enter room, calm, dump bags

Enter room, frantic, lock door

Close up head against door

Profile in darkness looking up at estate

Shot of here running around

Shot of her moving to draws

Draw opening

Shot of moving around the room

Close up looking under / around her room

Cut to tilt upwards of antagonist entering estate

Bend down under bed and find package

Backing bag

Close up of zipping bag

Leaving room (door open)

Running through tunnel

Skyline ots of London

Hand on shoulder

Titles

STYLE AND TONE

The overall style and tone of the opening that Ewan and I want to achieve is that of an edgy and urban environment, where for young people their atmosphere is a place of threat. The style will be similar to several films, especially Kidulthood, where there are a lot of urban shots, much more simple camerawork than other films and  an edgy feel with lots of close ups and point of view shots. This will present a feeling of personal connection between the audience and the character. This will also be achieved through the presentation of the protagonist in the past, as the audience (as discovered by audience research) finds a film more intriguing when they know elements about the character.

The setting will play a huge role towards tone, being dark and tense. The contrasting light between the past and present is what will really emphasis the present as being atmospheric and grungy. The buildings and locations we use are what will really present the realism feature of our film, and will set the edgy feel that we are working for.

Another film we were also inspired by was London to Brighton in particular the rough, destroyed edgy look of the shots in the bathrooms 

OUR DECIDED NARRATIVE/PLOT

After discussing together, Ewan and I decided to edge our narratives together to form the plot of our opening sequence.
We decided upon following the life of a girl (our protagonist) and the change that has taken place in her life ( like a before and after). Her life used to be simple and normal but it now seems obvious that a person has come into her life who has put her life at threat.
We wanted to set up a a parallel between two moments in time; matching and cross cutting between different locations and shots.
It seemed that we wanted to leave the ending to our story undecided, a cliff hanger: where will she take her life after this moment? Whilst still we found from our Audience research that it was crucial we established an emotional attachment between our protagonist and our audience.
We came up with the idea of a package being involved, shots of our protagonist searching for the package unable to find it, interspersed with shots of our antagonist figure searching for her.
We hope this will create a sense of pace, rush and an awareness of time; just as time has lapsed and changed our protagonists life completely.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH - ONLINE SURVEY - RESULTS

From our Online Survey, we've found that most people were more likely to watch films at home and were more inclined for those films to be blockbusters. However,100% answered that they do go to the cinema and more over, almost 45% go once a month and almost 17% go every week.

In terms of thrillers, 89% answered that they often watch them and 34% said that they have seen over 30 thrillers.

However, 100% of our audience that answered our survey was in the age category of 13-17 and only 3 persons out of 18 that answered said that they prefer social realism or psychological thrillers; the , majority (50%) said they preferred Action thrillers.

From this we can conclude that our target audience of 16-24 years old is perhaps too young. Meaning our social realism, psychological, urban thriller should be targeted at an older audience ( maybe 24-35 year olds).

Though our film would be certified a 15 and we are keen for it to appeal to young ages above 15 as well, we think that perhaps we should continue with our other Audience research to target our audience at an older age.

However, we will also interview some younger people to get their point of view and understanding on the concept of thrillers, especially social realism ones.